- All right, let's finish things up with a story
I hope will warm your heart.
This is What I'm Liking.
(upbeat music)
So not long ago, a Virginia woman named Anna
was rearranging some furniture and discovered a small door
in her closet she never knew existed.
When she opened it up, she discovered boxes
of handwritten letters from the fifties.
Many of them romantic variety between Betty Sue and Vance.
She knew that she had to get these love letters back
to the original owners.
So she did what people do in 2022 and took to social media.
And internet sleuths came through.
Turns out Betty Sue and Vance eventually did get married
and Anna was able to connect with their grandsons.
We have all of them dialed in right now.
Anna and Bodie are each watching in Richmond, Virginia
on NBC 12.
And Dalton's in Portland watching on Fox 12 Oregon.
What's up, y'all?
- Hi. - Hi Kelly.
- Hi.
So Anna, I'm gonna start with you.
What did you think when you first discovered the letters?
- This story is like "Goonies" meets "The Notebook."
I'm a 1980's baby, so I'm obsessed with the movie "Goonies."
- Yes.
- And I'm thinking I'm gonna go into this crawlspace,
slash attic, and I'm going to find a map
that's gonna lead me to Willy Wonka's treasure,
or to gold coins that were gonna make me rich.
But I ended up just finding creepy looking dolls,
and Christmas ornaments, and bills,
and things of that nature.
But I did go in the corner and I found these two boxes
of hundreds and hundreds of letters.
I thought to myself, at that point,
if these letters were out there in my family,
I would absolutely want them in our possession.
So that's when I went to social media
to look for someone in the family.
At first, I was really concerned about privacy.
But then I kicked that angel off my shoulder
and invited my sisters over and we drank some wine
and read the letters.
And it turns out it was a love story
between Bodie and Dalton's grandparents.
And obviously awesome, really dynamic people.
She was a basketball player.
He was a baseball player, high school sweethearts.
They fell in love.
At least 60% of the letters were from those two.
There were more, I mean, men will be men,
and in 1950 it was no different than it is now.
They were chasing after Betty Sue
pretty hard in those letters.
(Kelly laughing)
Vance won in the end, obviously.
So I was thrilled to get the letters to these guys
so they can read about their grandparents' courtship.
- I love that.
So Dalton and Bodie,
what did you think when you learned about these letters?
- So my first thought was how did we live
in this house for 18 years
and have no idea that these letters were in the house?
And then immediately after that,
I was thinking about how Dalton
and I were gonna get a very personable understanding
of our grandparents when they were young.
And that was super exciting for both of us.
I was, actually the latest letter that I read,
talked about how my grandfather had been given an offer
to play professional baseball in a summer league
down in Florida.
And they wanted him to leave the next day.
So he started packing his bags
and getting his affairs in order.
And in the midst of all that, he realized there was no way
that he was gonna spend three plus months
without my grandmother, being four states away.
So we decided to say no to the offer
so that he could be closer to my grandma.
And this letter, actually, that I just showed you
in the end, the letter closed with,
"If you are a dream, I hope to never be awoken,"
which is very poetic.
- I love that.
And Betty Sue, boy, she was like, all right,
go ahead, leave.
And he was like, nevermind.
He was like, so Dalton,
what did you think about the letters?
- I mean, I thought it was super romantic.
Bodie and I were both very lucky
'cause our grandparents were actually
just a few houses down when we were growing up.
So we had a super close relationship.
And we got to see them in love at the end of their lives.
But then, you know, recently our father passed away
and he was kind of our last connection
to that side of the family.
And so we didn't really have much
until these letters popped up.
And they've kind of become like the last heirloom.
And I'm just really excited to explore their love
and get to know our grandparents when they were my age
or even a little younger.
- Yeah, I love that. That's so special.
Thank you so much, Anna.
That's so cool.
You didn't find buried treasure,
but you found buried treasure for them.
- No, that's right, that's right.
- [Bodie] Very true.
- So thank you, Anna.
I would've read them too.
I wouldn't have even needed wine.
I'd have been like, I gotta know what this is.
Dalton and Bodie, thank you so much is well for sharing.
I'm liking y'alls post right now, all right?
- [Bodie] Thank you.
- Yeah, absolutely.
And that's not all our season long partner
Pilot Pen makers of G2, the go-to pen
of "The Kelly Clarkson Show,"
thinks this story is as sweet as we do.
So they're gonna be writing you a check
for $1000 for you all to split.
So there you go.
(all praising)
All right, thank y'all so much.